Game 86 - Pivetta Earns Revenge on His Former Team

San Diego Padres	6
Philadelphia Phillies	4

Game 1

2018 Topps Gallery #74

Wednesday Afternoon, July 2nd

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
50-36

One Sentence Summary:  Nick Pivetta kept his former team off-balance and Mick Abel got knocked around in this 6-4 loss to the Padres.

What It Means:  Thunderstorms on Tuesday washed out that game and necessitated a day-night double header on Wednesday.

What Happened:  Abel lasted just 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on two hits and (most troubling) five walks.  Taijuan Walker, Seth Johnson and Daniel Robert provided some bullpen stability, holding the Padres scoreless over the final 5 2/3 innings of the game.  The Phillies didn't score until the sixth inning, when Kyle Schwarber led off with a solo home run, his 26th of the season.  Edmundo Sosa tripled home another run in the seventh, and would score on a wild pitch, making it a 6-3 game.  With runners at second and third and one out in the ninth, Schwarber struck out to end the game.

Featured Card:  Pivetta improved to 9-2, allowing a run on seven hits and striking out six in six innings.

Transaction:  Johnson (rhp) was added to the roster as the 27th man for the double header.

2025 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2025 Season Summary Index / 2025 Chachi Set Checklist

2025 Topps - The First Phillie!

I didn't hesitate earlier this year when the e-mail from Topps arrived in my inbox alerting me that boxes of 2025 Topps Series One were on sale from their website.  I've missed out in the past, having to go to the secondary market (eBay) and paying an upcharge when the need to open new baseball cards inevitably overpowered me in prior Februarys.  I didn't go crazy, adding just a hobby box and a blaster to my cart, and then waiting patiently for the February 12th release date.

The box was waiting for me when I arrived home on Wednesday, but sports practices required us to wait until Thursday to open the first packs of 2025 Topps as a family.  The first Phillie, this Alec Bohm card, came quickly within the first pack I opened.

Topps has been on a roll over the past several years, and with the exception of the misfire with 2020's design, the 2025 Topps design adds to four solid set designs in the past five years.  Updating my top ten gallery below, the 2025 set takes the place of the 2015 set in the #2 spot, with 2015 leaving the list after 10 years (!).  I've used this summary in the past to describe the new Topps flagship design, but this is what a baseball card in the year 2025 should look like - crisp, great photo, modern graphics, some non-intrusive glittery effects and a little bit of silver foil with the Topps logo.  I really like that we get the team's logo and name going up the side of a card, and the curved lines along the left border are a nice modern update to the 1982 Topps design.

We were particularly impressed with how Topps found a new way to display the player's position.  The diamond in the bottom right indicates where the player would stand on the field, and it's one of those things I can't believe we've not seen on a baseball card before.  The backs are nice and clean too, as has been the case in recent years, and kudos to Topps for once again making the card number easy to find and easy to read.  My only very minor complaint is that some of the teams have player's last names in black (not white) making those harder to read.  I would have preferred Topps go with all white for every last name for each team.

Revisiting my top ten ranking below, I might move 2022 and 2019 ahead of 2023.  I still don't like the bottom three, but 2021 may eventually take over the worst design spot in my mind.

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2025 Topps #7

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

2025 Topps #7 Alec Bohm

Game 67 - Phils Stumble in Boston

2019 Topps 1984 Topps Baseball
35th Anniversary Autographs
#84A-NP

Red Sox 8, Phillies 6
Game 67 - Wednesday Night, June 12th in Boston
Record - 46-21, 1st Place, 10 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies' pitching had a rare off-night as the Red Sox won, 8-6.

What It Means:  It's been an amazing run for the Phillies so far in 2024, but they're not perfect and losses are still going to happen.

What Happened:  The Phillies held a 4-1 lead after four innings on RBIs from Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott, Whit Merrifield and David Dahl.  The wheels came off in the bottom of the fifth as the Red Sox started the inning with three straight singles and two runs scored on an errant throw from Merrifield.  Cristopher Sanchez was chased from the game and reliever Jose Ruiz gave up three more runs on a sacrifice fly and a two-run double by Emmanuel Valdez.  The Red Sox piled on in the sixth when David Hamilton hit a two-run home run off Spencer Turnbull.

Featured Card:  Former Phillie Nick Pivetta started this game, going four innings and allowing four runs on six hits and four walks.  Pivetta is 3-4 so far this season with a 3.88 ERA.  Since I've paying tribute all season to the 1984 Topps set, I thought this card was fitting for this post, and I can't honestly remember why or how I added this card to my collection.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

The First Phillie - 2024 Topps!

Topps mixed things up this year, making collectors wait until January 11th to reveal the design of its 2024 flagship set.  In year's past, the design was released in August or September and when the season came to a close with no announcement and no inkling as to what the 2024 Topps cards would look like, I was a little worried.  I prepared myself to be underwhelmed whenever the design was finally released.

My first thought on seeing the design in mid-January:  These are cool.  My second thought:  The neon-like team name is fantastic, and how has Topps not done this before?  This is what a baseball card in 2024 should look like.  It's a modern look with the foggy border elements Topps likes so much from recent years, but collectors are given a solid photo, a unique way of presenting the team name, the team logo and clearly legible names and positions.  It's a great looking card, and it springs to the top of my list of favorite Topps flagship releases over the past 10 years.

The set was officially released on Valentine's Day, but I didn't open my first packs until February 19th.  My wife Jenna found three blaster boxes at our local Target that day, and I happily opened all three after dinner.  In the past, we've made a big show of the first packs of the year, but this year was a little more subdued.  The First Phillie hunt was extremely anti-climatic, as J.T. Realmuto was staring at me atop the first plastic-wrapped bunch of 59 cards I took from the first box I opened.

This is an exciting design, and Topps clearly creates its base cards now to work well with multiple parallel versions.  It wasn't until I had the cards in hand that I realized the team name and photo borders have foil-like features to them.  Scans don't do the cards justice, as these elements can't really be seen unless you're holding them.  I had a blue-bordered Alec Bohm card in one of my three boxes, and I like the full blue border more than the smoky black and white border on the normal base cards.  That's my only complaint, and if I had designed the cards, each card would have a border color corresponding to the player's team.  I like the backs too - very clean, with complete career statistics as has always been the norm with Topps flagship sets.

Finally, it's a promising sign of things to come that three of my top four sets over the past 10 years are all recent releases.  With 2014 dropping off the list, here's a look at my updated rankings:

Best Five:  2024, 2015, 2023, 2022, 2019

Bottom Five:  2016, 2018, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2015 Topps #309

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

The Tradition Continues! - 2023 First Phillie Winner

I surprised myself last week by deciding to buy a hobby box of Topps Series One, as I'm still riding the high of the Phillies being in the World Series and this is the first flagship set design in several years I really like.  As much as I enjoyed the 2022 Topps design, it was almost too plain for me and this year's design will definitely not be accused of that.  There's a lot going on here.

I appreciate that Topps recognizes a somewhat under appreciated tradition of having two photos - one action, one portrait - on the front of its flagship cards every 20 years in years ending in -3.  This started in 1963, came back in 1983, kept the tradition going in 2003 and makes its triumphant return in 2023.  Well done, Topps.  While I expect the 2043 Topps baseball cards to just be holograms we launch from our tricorders, hopefully the two photos on the front return for a fifth time in the sequence.

Since I've been opening packs of Topps flagship cards, we've had a family tradition of seeking the First Phillie of the year.  My Dad and I started the tradition in the early 1980s, I carried it through, some years by myself, through the early 2000s, and the practice has continued with my wife and sons since then.  On late Friday afternoon, not soon after the box had been delivered to the door, we selected our packs and commenced the search for the First Phillie of 2023.  There was some controversy this year as Doug pulled a league leaders card featuring Kyle Schwarber seconds before I found this Aaron Nola card in my first pack.  Ben quickly followed with the J.T. Realmuto card in his first pack.  Consulting the hallowed family First Phillie bylaws, I'm awarding First Phillie honors this year to myself, as the league leaders card doesn't quite count.

Yes, the fronts of these cards are busy.  Yes, there are a few too many design elements crammed on the bottom of the cards.  But I like them, and these seem to me what baseball cards should look like in the year 2023.  Our box had amazing collation, as we didn't have any doubles and we were just 14 cards short of a complete 330-card first series set.  There seemed to be way fewer inserts and parallels than in prior years, and I was completely fine with that.  My one continued gripe with Topps flagship is that I wish the checklist grouped subsets together.  League leaders and the combo card/checklists should be grouped sequentially and not dropped in randomly throughout the checklist.  

Revisiting a ranking of Topps flagship sets from the past 10 years, the 2023 Topps set, at least for now, finishes near the top.  I think I could flip flop the 2022 and 2019 designs in these rankings too:

Best Five:  2015, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2016

Bottom Five:  2018, 2014, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2015 Topps #309

#2 - 2023 Topps #278

#3 - 2022 Topps #249

#4 - 2019 Topps #303

#5 - 2016 Topps #15

#6 - 2018 Topps #26

#7 - 2014 Topps #90

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

Phils Add Sox Relievers for Pivetta, Top Prospect

2020 Topps Heritage #297

2019 Topps Total #175

2020 Topps Total #189

2017 Bowman Draft #BD-77

In desperate need of semi-reliable bullpen arms, the Phillies acquired Red Sox closer Brandon Workman and reliever Heath Hembree on Friday night for former starting pitcher Nick Pivetta and top pitching prospect Connor Seabold.  The Red Sox sent cash to the Phillies to cover a portion of Workman's and Hembree's remaining 2020 salaries, and a player to be named later will be coming to the Phillies eventually as well.

22 games into this shortened season and the Phillies bullpen is on pace to be one of the historically worst bullpens of all-time.  GM Matt Klentak, who failed to strengthen the weak bullpen in the offseason, needed to make a move now if the Phillies have any hope of claiming one of the 8 National League play-off spots up for grabs this year.  As of right now they're on the outside looking in, not in the playoff picture at all.

Workman was the key to the deal for the Phillies, and he could (and should) take over closer duties from Hector Neris.  As Corey Seidman Tweeted, Workman has the lowest opponents' batting average in the majors (.141) since the start of last season among pitchers with at least 75 innings pitched.  He saved 16 games for the Red Sox last year, going 10-1 with a 1.88 ERA over 73 games.  He's a free agent following the season, so this is a pure rental move by the Phillies.

Hembree, again from another Corey Seidman Tweet, has a fastball that has averaged 94.4 mph the last four seasons and only Zack Wheeler exceeds that mark among current Phillies pitchers.  Over the past seven seasons with the Red Sox, he has a 3.70 ERA over 251 games.  Hembree is under control through next season, so he already factors into the team's 2021 bullpen plans.

And for my final Corey Seidman Tweet reference, Nick Pivetta's 5.50 ERA over 396 1/3 innings pitched is the highest ERA among any Phillies pitcher with that manny innings logged since 1931.  So that's not great.  Acquired from the Nationals in 2015 for Jonathan Papelbon, Pivetta showed flashes of brilliance every once in a while, but most of his appearances ended in frustration.  He departs the Phillies with a 19-30 record over four seasons, with 92 appearances including 71 starts.

The wild card here is Connor Seabold, one of the Phillies top 25 prospects entering the season.  Seabold, a right-hander who projects as a solid middle of the rotation starter, has pitched as high as Double-A and he was a surprise addition to the team's Player Pool in July.  Like Addison Russ, traded a few hours before this deal to the Yankees, letting Seabold go could come back to haunt the Phillies.

Arrived During the 2020 Season

• David Hale (rhp) - 8/21/20, Acquired from the New York Yankees for Addison Russ (rhp).
• Brandon Workman (rhp) and Heath Hembree (rhp) - 8/21/20, Acquired from the Boston Red Sox with cash and a player to be named later for Nick Pivetta (rhp) and Connor Seabold (rhp).

Departed During the 2020 Season 

• Nick Williams (of) - 8/15/20, Selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds. 
• Edgar Garcia (rhp) - 8/18/20, Traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later.
• Nick Pivetta (rhp) - 8/21/20, Traded to the Boston Red Sox with Connor Seabold (rhp) for Brandon Workman (rhp), Heath Hembree (rhp), a player to be named later and cash.

2020 Chachi #29 Nick Pivetta

#43
Nicholas Jhoncarlo Pivetta
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  214
Opening Day Age:  27
Born:  February 14, 1993, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
How Obtained:  Acquired from the Washington Nationals for Jonathan Papelbon and cash considerations, July 28, 2015
Contract Status:  Arbitration eligible 2021, free agency eligible 2024
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2017-

First Phillies Card:  2017 Phillies Team Issue Phillies Phestival #43
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2016 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #23
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2017 Phillies Team Issue Phillies Phestival #43

Newest Card Added:  2020 Topps Total #189

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  2017-2020

26 - Pivetta baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 8/11/20.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2015 Chachi Almost #10
2017 Chachi #40
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #15
2017 Chachi In Action #6
2017 Chachi Archives #3
2017 Chachi Photo Night #9
2018 Chachi #14
2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #9
2019 Chachi #14
2019 Chachi Phillies Phestival #13
2020 Chachi #29

Nick Pivetta was optioned to the Lehigh Valley alternate training site on Monday.  The Phillies bullpen has been a huge liability so far in 2020 and Pivetta's 15.88 ERA over 5 2/3 innings wasn't helping.  Hopefully he can figure things out in Allentown and help the club down the road.

2020 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2020 Season Summary Index / 2020 Chachi Set Checklist

Grapefruit Game 7 - 2019 Topps Now #348 Nick Pivetta

Phillies 12, Red Sox 5
Spring Training Game 7 - Thursday Afternoon, February 27th in Fort Myers
Record - 5-1-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies offense banged out 12 runs on 20 hits in this decisive victory over the Red Sox.

What It Means:  Probably not much, other than we're almost through the first week of spring training games.

What Happened:  Scott Kingery and Deivy Grullon homered for the Phils.  Simon Muzziotti had three hits and two RBIs.  Nick Pivetta had a decent outing, lasting 2 2/3 innings and allowing a run on one hit while striking out five.

Featured Card:  Manager Joe Girardi has made it clear the fifth starter's job is going to be a battle between Pivetta and Vince Velasquez, and it seems like the third or fourth year now this battle has been ongoing.  I'd give the early edge to Pivetta as I think Velasquez would make a more effective reliever.

Camp Head Count:  70

The First Phillie of 2020: A 10-Year Low

We opened our first packs of 2020 Topps on Saturday afternoon and I have one word to describe the design of this year's offering:  Messy.  While the photography used for the cards is great, the design itself is a major distraction with bars, lines and rectangles cluttering the card fronts.  Depending on the orientation of the photo, the player's name could appear on the right, left or bottom of the cards when thumbing through a stack.

My wife Jenna brought home three blaster boxes from Target, and as we opened the packs the consensus was that none of us liked the horizontal cards.  Which makes it fitting this year's First Phillie was a horizontal card - #190 Aaron Nola - as found in my son Doug's first pack of the year.  This is a set that won't look great in 9-pocket pages given that every other card is oriented in a different direction.  The backs of the cards are drab and unimpressive.

I'm also again bothered by the placement of "special" cards throughout the set, as Topps interrupts the flow of player card with Postseason cards, League Leader cards, team celebration cards or team cards.  I'd like these so much better if they were grouped together as subsets.

Ben was unimpressed

Doug just wanted the Trout card

And finally, and perhaps my final complaint, is that the Phillies primary logo has been altered by Topps here.  The bell should be blue and not white.  The correct logo was used on Phillies cards found within the 2019 Topps set, so why make the change for this year's cards?  Based on a gut reaction ranking, I'm bummed this is my least favorite design of the last ten years and I can't believe I'm already missing the imperfect design from 2019.

Also, I'm getting old.

Subjective, Unscientific Gut Reaction Topps Flagship Set Design Rankings (2011 to 2020), Best to Worst

Best - 2015 Topps #309

#2 - 2011 Topps #242

#3 - 2019 Topps #303

#4 - 2012 Topps #98

#5 - 2016 Topps #15

#6 - 2013 Topps #6

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2014 Topps #90

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola